In the past five years, coffee prices have plummeted 70 percent, plunging 25 million Third World coffee farmers into poverty. Small farmers, unable to transport their own coffee, are forced to pay exorbitant amounts to middlemen. As a result, farmers who should be receiving a fair “living wage” of $1.26 per pound of coffee are forced to survive on less than 40 cents per pound. Many have turned to growing drugs as a means of supporting themselves. One solution for these farmers is to join a co-op which participates in Fair Trade, a certification process that guarantees them fair payment.
Georgetown Students for Fair Trade are campaigning to have only Fair Trade certified coffee served on campus. They have already helped to make Fair Trade coffee an option at Uncommon Grounds, Center Grille and New South. The coffee costs 10 cents extra at UG and is available free of charge at Center Grille. GSFT is also working to make Fair Trade coffee available in Vital Vittles, Darnall, the Starbucks stand in Leavey and at MUG in ICC, as well as at the future Southwest Quadrangle cafeteria and the coffee stand in Lauinger Library. The coffee would most likely cost 10 cents extra at campus coffee stands and be priced similarly to organic coffee at Vittles, according to GSFT Vice President Sarah Pennington.
The best way for students to ensure that GSFT is successful in making Fair Trade coffee available everywhere on campus is to educate themselves about its benefits, purchase it where it is available and ask for it where it is not. But while Fair Trade coffee should be available everywhere, students should have a choice when purchasing it will cost them more.
That said, Georgetown coffee vendors must make enough information about Fair Trade available so that students are aware of their options. Currently, there are no signs in Uncommon Grounds advertising that Fair Trade coffee is even available. GFTC plans to start handing out leaflets in Leavey, but UG should do their part by putting Fair Trade prices on their chalkboards along side their other coffee drinks and making further information available inside. Future Fair Trade vendors should follow suit with visible signs in MUG stands and Vittles advertising the availability of Fair Trade products.
Spending an extra 10 cents to get a cup of Fair Trade coffee should be well worth it to most campus caffeine-addicts, if not because of the tremendous benefits to farmers then because of the higher quality. Fair Trade coffee is shade-grown, which is better for the environment and produces a higher quality bean. In addition, coffee connoisseurs will appreciate the fact that Fair Trade coffee must be 90 percent coffee beans, versus 70 percent for other coffees.
However, if students are not convinced by these arguments, then they shouldn’t have to buy Fair Trade coffee. Georgetown coffee-drinkers have the right to make their own decisions about their purchases, and for many money-starved college students, every dime counts. As long as campus coffee vendors make all the facts about Fair Trade coffee available, students should have the option to purchase it or not, and GSFT will have to trust that they will make the right choice.
